Father Anthony J. Fitzgerald, S.J.

, Jurisprudential Wizard,

Vol. 23: The Ward

By

Anthony J. Fejfar, J.D., Esq., Coif

© Copyright 2007 by Anthony J. Fejfar

The Father Fitzgerald novel, in its entirety, including this, and

every sequel, is a work of Fantasy Fiction. Any resemblance of any

characters or places with the real world, is purely coincidental.

Chapter 1

Dan Corgill woke up in his hospital bed at Holly Hills Psychiatric

Clinic. He looked out the window covered with steel reinforced screen and

thought that it was probably 7:30 a.m. At 8:00 a.m. a psychiatric nurse,

named Jane, told him that it was time for breakfast. He found his tray and

went into the t.v. lounge to eat. It wasn’t too bad. Low fat scrambled eggs,

toast, and some orange juice. When he was finished, he put his empty tray

back into the rack and went back to his room. He washed off his face and

ran his wet fingers through his hair. He laid back down in bed and stared at

the ceiling.

A few minutes later nurse Jane, accompanied by a man in a

doctor’s white coat came into his room. “Good morning,” said the man with

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a different accent, “I am Dr. Shah, I will be your treating physician and

psychiatrist while you stay here. Do you have any questions?” “Well, yes,”

said Dan, “I would like to know why I am here.” “You are here because

you have been involuntarily committed to this hospital because you have a

mental illness.” Said Dr. Shah. “Well, it is my understanding that I can only

be involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital if there is a confinement

warrant signed by a District Court Judge. Do you have a confinement

warrant?”

Dr. Shah looked through the paperwork on his clipboard. “No, there

is no confinement warrant here, only a police charging memorandum signed

by Officer Dougherty. It says that you have been section 302 involuntarily

committed for having dangerous ideas as a law professor.” “What

dangerous ideas?” asked Dan. “It doesn’t say, other than the fact that you

have been accused of teaching theosphany in class.” Said Dr. Shah. “In any

event, my preliminary diagnosis is that you are bipolar, and I am starting you

out with lithium as your psychiatric medication.” “How long will I be

here?” asked Dan. “As long as it takes to cure you.” replied Dr. Shah.

Dr. Shah and nurse Jane left the Dan’s room. Dan decided to get a little

exercise by walking up and down the hallway. Before he could get out of

bed, however, nurse Jane brought him his lithium pills. “What if I refuse to

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take these pills?” asked Dan. “If you refuse, you will probably be forced to

take an injection of Haldol to quiet you down. Then we will try again.”

Dan took the lithium tablets and immediately felt sick to his stomach. He

felt like throwing up, but managed not to. Dan laid back down in bed.

Dan dozed off. An hour or so later he heard a knock at the door and

there stood Father Tony Fitzgerald in his collar, which was rare. “Well, Dan,

how are you doing?” asked Tony, as he put down a grocery bag full of

clothes on Dan’s dresser. “It’s terrible. I’ve been run in without a warrant.

I don’t belong here.” Said Dan. “No Dan, you probably don’t, but here you

are anyway. Now, if it gets too bad I can get you out of this by going to see

Judge Brown, a classmate of ours on the Federal Bench, but in the meantime

let’s just play along and see what happens. You see, and this is all

confidential of course, I had Sister Joan Brewster tell her KGB, Cuban CIA

friends that you had to be penured and scapegoated to force you into

apostacy so you would stop arguing for social justice and Catholic

philosophy. We are laying a trap and you are the bait.” Said Father Tony.

“Great,” said Dan, “what about my family?” “Well, your wife is not taking

it too well. I told her that she and the baby could not see you till next week.”

Said Father Tony. “Just be yourself and pretend that you have to get out of

this situation by yourself, because that is partly true.” “You’re a bastard for

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doing this to me.” Said Dan. “Well, of course I didn’t do it. Father Leon

Andrev set it up as far as I can tell. Now, I went through something like this

a long time ago and I promise you that you will come out of this a better and

stronger man than when you went in.” Said Father Tony. “Well, I guess I’ll

do my part then.” Said Dan. “Good.” Said Father Tony. “Now, I have to

speak with Dr. Shah for a moment and then I will be leaving. I’ll stop by

again in a couple of days.”

Father Tony Fitzgerald stopped by the nurses’ station and asked to

see Dr. Shah. Dr. Shah came out and Tony Fitzgerald introduced himself as

Dan Corgill’s lawyer. “Dr. Shah, I have a Court Order here for you from

Federal Judge Brown stating that you are absolutely not to use electro-shock

therapy or a lobotomy on Dan Corgill. If you disregard the order in any way

you will be found in criminal contempt of court by the Judge and put in

prison. Are we clear?” “Very much so,” said Dr. Shah, “I hardly ever use

those techniques anyway.” “Have nice day, then.” Said Father Fitzgerald as

he turned around and headed for the electronic door, which the nurse buzzed

him through with a button at the nurses station. Fitzgerald pressed the

buttom for the elevator, got in and went down, leaving the building (to be

continued)